Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport
Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport, or SSR for short, is the main airport for the country of Mauritius. It is a major transport hub for international flights as well as connections between the countries of the Indian Ocean. It is also the only major airport within Mauritius, located near Mahébourg. What would happen if this airport no longer had passengers to serve? 1 day after people At SSR, there are no more Indian Ocean flights. No more Air Mauritius flights taking off, as all of the planes are grounded for good. The modern airport is empty. On November 28, 1987, a Boeing 747 from South African Airways named Helderburg suffered a catastrophic fire while making a commercial flight from Chiang Kai Shek INTL Airport in Taipei, Taiwan to Jan Smuts INTL Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa. The plane was going to make a stopover at SSR, until a fire in the cargo section caused the plane to crash near Mauritius. Back at SSR, The newest terminal, which is part of one of Africa's busiest airport's in Africa, is silent. The new terminal however will not get any more passengers. 2 days after people At the radio control tower, the instruments and devices don't record any planes in the nearby airspace. The satellite dish still spins, the instruments still track the nearby airspace, but their will no longer by planes in the sky. From the sky, the metal roof of the new terminal gleams. The terminal, from the air, looks like some sort of bird. However, there are no planes to fly above it, or in the nearby airspace. On the runway, Air Mauritius planes wait for passengers that will never come. The planes sit on the tarmac, slowly dripping fuel from their engines. But then, it starts to get rainier, and it begins to flood. The tropical weather of the southern Indian Ocean brings storms, cyclones and thunderstorms. This threatens to flood the airport and ruin the infastucture. 3 days after people The tropical cyclones whip up the entire airport, uprooting common palm trees, breaking windows and flooding the terminal. On the tarmac, the planes that once served Air Mauritius aren't faring any better. Suffering damage to the windows, them getting shoved into places and their paint getting blasted off by the furious cyclone air. One of the planes still have their tank full. But the cyclone sends it skidding off the runway, creating a fire inside it. The plane meets it fate when it slows down in a rural field just outside the airport, then it explodes, caused by the fire inside the plane and the full fuel tank. The fire is shortly extinguished by the heavy rainstorm that follows after the cyclone. 6 months after people The terminal has started to degrade, as it becomes a tropical swamp. This swamp however, is confined to the airport, as the surrounding land has become forest. The airplanes, which have been left unchecked for several months now, are now beginning to corrode away. They suffer a similar fate to the planes in The Boneyard in Tucson, Arizona. The cockpit windows are getting blurry, which is not suitable for flying. At the control tower, the tower is slowly leaning. 10 years after people Rust has taken its toll on SSR. Due to storms and years of corrosion, the oldest terminal has caved in. Poor maintenance has also destroyed most of the planes and the sign that people see when driving to the airport. The control tower has become a home for birds, as they would prefer the abandoned airport's new "environment". 80 years after people Most of the airport has collapsed. The control tower has rusted, and a strong wind cause the tower to fall down.Category:Africa Category:Airports